Work to Resume at Stalled Michigan Avenue Hotel Conversion
The transformation of the North Michigan Avenue corridor between the Chicago River and Millennium Park is about to get kicked up a notch. Long-stalled work on the building at 168 North Michigan Avenue is expected to resume soon. A trio of dead permits have been reinstated allowing construction crews to fix the exterior terra cotta on the 12 (should be 16) story building. Right now the building’s exterior is a pockmarked mess...
Status Update: Glass More Than Half Full at 360 North Michigan
The transformation of the London Guarantee and Accident Building, at 360 North Michigan Avenue, into the LondonHouse Hotel, continues in earnest along Upper Wacker Drive. “Wait”, you say. “What do you mean, ‘along Wacker’ when you just told us it’s on Michigan Avenue?” Well, that’s a legit query. As part of the LondonHouse remodeling project, what used to be a gap facing the Chicago...
Status Update: LondonHouse Spreading Down Wacker
The transformation of the London Guarantee and Accident Building at 360 North Michigan Avenue into the LondonHouse Hotel is well underway. For months we’ve been teased by scaffolding on its exterior, hinting at the magical demolition going on inside. Now we can see the new glass tower addition rising to the building’s west. The glass tower, designed by friends-of-the-blog Goettsch Partners, fills the space between the...
ICYMI: London Guarantee Building Gets a New Flag
Here’s a little piece of news that may have flown under your radar if you’re not snuggled deeply in the 800-thread-count world of the hotel industry. The new hotel being crafted inside the landmark London Guarantee Building (360 North Michigan Avenue) will be a Hilton. Earlier this month we reported that the new hotel would carry the name LondonHouse Hotel, a nod to livelier days when the London House jazzery still...
New Loop Hotel Pays Homage to Its Jazz History
Chicago is one of the few American cities where a man can still commute to work by train, buy a paper at a newsstand, get his shoes shined, relax for a hot straight-razor shave, and meet the fellas for a game of handball at the club at the end of the day. In spite of backpacks* and “casual Friday,” a ribbon of old-school Mad Men-style swagger still runs through downtown. A bit of that is coming back to life, if in name...
Hotel360 About To Grow Sideways
It’s not even open yet, and already the conversion of the former London Guarantee and Accident Building (360 North Michigan Avenue) into a hotel is improving the neighborhood. A demolition permit has been issued for the parking lot at 85 East Wacker Drive—the slice of concrete pie between London Guarantee and the Club Quarters hotel. The space will be used for an addition onto the London Guarantee building to form what will...
Week Links: March 30, 2012
Did you know? That Corner Bakery on Wacker and Michigan (inside the London Guarantee and Accident Building – 360 North Michigan Avenue) used to be a jazz club called The London House. It was one of the most important jazz clubs in the country before it closed in the 1970’s.
Briefly: New Loop Hotel, New Streeterville Tower, New River North Bar
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the historic London Guarantee Building (360 North Michigan Avenue) may become a hotel. A similar plan was floated in 2004. The same Sun-Times article notes that the hotel planned for 330 North Wabash, formerly known as IBM Plaza, will open next year. WeArchitects who work in the building have told us in no uncertain terms that the hotel project is dead. We’ll see who’s right when 2013...
